City streets serve the function of communication and commerce. Without streets, goods cannot be delivered, and people cannot conduct business. But there’s another function, perhaps even more telling.
Continue reading WHAT ARE CITY STREETS FOR?
In Exodus 12, God gives Moses the instructions and requirements for the Passover.
Continue reading THE PASSOVER IN THE BIBLE
THE PASSOVER is the Old Testament feast that celebrates and remembers God’s liberation of Israel from Egypt. After Joseph saved Egypt from starvation (Genesis 41), the Israelites lived in Egypt as guests. Eventually, the Egyptians forgot about Joseph and enslaved the Israelites for hundreds of years (Exodus 1:6-14).
Continue reading OLD TESTAMENT ORIGIN OF THE PASSOVER
Solomon investigated hard work as a possible way of supplying meaning to life. He realized, however, that if he worked, at the end of his life he would have to leave all the fruit of his labors to people who had not worked. He concluded that this would be foolish and extremely unfair.
Continue reading WHY SHOULD WE WORK IF HARD WORK PROVIDES SO FEW REWARDS?
The Bible addresses human sexuality form a holistic perspective of God’s intention and design. In contrast to both pagan sex rituals and modern obsession with sex, the Bible places sex within the total context of human nature, happiness, and holiness.
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (SEX, BIBLICAL TEACHING ON)
King Sennacherib of Assyria had a huge army and ruled a large empire. And he was determined to add Judah to the list of nations under his control. He believed that no one could resist his demands-after all. Assyria had never lost a war, and Judah was a small nation. But Sennacherib failed to realize that Judah was different-it’s king, Hezekiah, depended on the Lord to fight Judah’s battles.
Continue reading DID YOU KNOW THAT AN ANGEL ONCE DESTROYED AN ENTIE ARMY?
Yet another reason for seeking a concubine was to demonstrate control over the assets and legacy of a father or king. Reuben attempted to force the hand of Jacob into declaring him the primary heir of the family by sleeping with his father’s concubine (Gen 35:22). The same happened in royal circles. Abner, Absalom, and Adonijah all either slept with a king’s concubine or attempted to do so in order to advance their legitimacy as a royal figure (2 Sam 3:7; 16:21-22; 1 Kings 2:17, 21-25).
Continue reading EVERDAY LIFE IN BIBLE TIMES (CONCUBINE PT2)
1. Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (JOHN 14:1-4 “I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE”)
General term for religions marked by rites that reenact a myth accounting for the orderly change of the seasons and the earth’s fruitfulness. Such myths often involve a great mother-goddess as a symbol of fertility and a male deity, usually her consort but sometimes a son, who like vegetation dies and returns to life again. In Mesopotamia the divine couple was Ishtar and Tammuz (who is mourned in Ezek 8:14); in Egypt, Isis and her sons Osiris: in Asia Minor, Cybele and Attis. In Syria the Ugaritic myths of the second millennium B.C. pictured Baal-Hadad, the storm god, as the dying and rising god. (A local manifestation of this god is mourned in Zech
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (FERTILITY CULT PT1)
These “images” that Rachel had stolen from her father were household idols known as teraphim. Small statuettes in human form, they may have represented deceased ancestors of the family. They were consulted in a superstitious way for guidance and direction in everyday life.
Continue reading STOLEN HOUSEHOLD IDOLS